Smart device to trap mosquitoes, control spread of diseases

A faculty from Department of Electronics Engineering at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design, and Manufacturing, in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research’s Centre for Research in Medical Entomology, has developed a smart mosquito trap, which has a webcam type microscope, besides a microcomputer to trap the mosquito, shoot its image and identify the type

Chennai: Dr S Rajasekara Pandian, the faculty who developed the device, said that the top portion of the trap is similar to that of a conventional trap with titanium dioxide coating and ultra-violet (UV) or LED light to attract mosquitoes, which get pulled in by a small fan to dehydrate it.

“Once the mosquito is trapped inside the container the microscope will capture an image of the insect and the microcomputer will compare it with the stored images or templates of common mosquito species like those causing dengue, malaria and chikungunya as well as the common ones,” he said.

A computer programme will analyse real-time images of the trapped mosquitoes and match them with the stored templates, and keeps count of the trapped ones with the date and time when they were captured.

Pointing out that such data in the container would be transmitted to a central server using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, Dr Pandian said that the data can be accessed through a mobile application.

“The data from multiple smart traps installed in the city in public places like schools, hospitals, etc can be analysed to predict spread of mosquito borne diseases,” he said.

Dr Pandian also added that the device had been developed using low-cost, off-the-shelf materials.